The Princess Bride

Oh, where to begin?

Has there ever been a more perfect, more quoted, more romantic, more funny, more perfectly-cast, more exciting, and more universally-loved movie than The Princess Bride?

Seriously… we all love John Hughes’ flicks, and yeah, E.T. was cute, and Indiana Jones was fun, but The Princess Bride stands in a class all by itself. In fact, it’s one of the few movies with ‘bride’ and/or ‘princess’ in the title that a lot of guys will admit to liking.

And what’s not to like? There’s swash-buckling action, a beautiful princess (with perfect breasts), a giant, some shrieking eels, the Pit of Despair, the Cliffs of Insanity, an old Jewish miracle man, and perhaps the best battle of wits ever put on film.

It’s all, of course, the brainchild of William Goldman, whose original book The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure provided the basis for his screenplay. And then along came Rob Reiner, fresh off This is Spinal Tap and Stand By Me to hop into the director’s chair and bring the magic to the screen.

For our part, we can’t think of a single flick from the 80s that make us nostalgic quite like it. Even the whole ‘My name is Inigo Montoya’ bit, by this point, should just be a tired old gag, but it’s never really gotten stale. Instead of rolling your eyes whenever you hear it, aren’t you more likely to get a little misty as it transports you down Memory Lane to the land of Farm Boy, the Six-Fingered Man, and the Impressive Clergyman?

When it arrived on October 9, 1987, The Princess Bride only did ‘ok’ at the box office, going on to take in an underwhelming $30M total. It wasn’t until the movie hit the shelves in the local video store that it really took off, and it has since gone on to be included of virtually every ‘best/most romantic/funniest movie’ list out there.

From ‘How’s the sickie?’ to ‘As you wish’, from the Fire Swamp (and its flame spurts, lightning sand, and ROUSs) to ‘Oh, you mean this key,’ from The Dread Pirate Roberts to ‘I’m not a witch, I’m your wife!’, could a movie get much better than The Princess Bride?